The Greek Party System and a Decade of Crisis. What is Left in Greece?

Greek political arena encountered a radical crossroad in the aftermath of the 2008 global economic and financial crisis, leading to a dramatic switch in power sharing of the 35 years long mainstream parties dominance of New Democracy and Socialist Movement, which brought into the Voulì different and radical political forces, previously under- and/or un-represented at the national level. Much has been published about the “new left” represented by Tsipras’ SYRIZA movement, with less attention on the ND and PASOK stories, and many comparisons have undergone at international level, but this investigation deals with the internal situation of the greek progressive forces through the outbreak of the pandemic, facing the toughest decade of the third hellenic republic, with peculiar attention to the (r)evolution occurred until its 50th anniversary. By means of an integrated qualitative and quantitative analysis of available party manifestos, data on membership, electoral performances and media outlets, this article explores the re-composition of the party system in Greece between 2009 and 2024, focusing in particular on the fragmentation and subsequent puzzling of the left-of-the-center space, with the aim of answering these research questions: how does the left side of the greek political scenario look like? Was there a radical and enduring transformation in the Greek party system during the 2009-2019 decade? Had that decade of severe national crisis relevant impacts elsewhere in hellenic politics?